Former Drake High coach Cap Lavin goes way back with Newell

The first time Albert "Cappy" Lavin saw Pete Newell was in 1946 at the old Page Street Gym in San Francisco as the legendary basketball coach appeared out of nowhere like a movie star.

Lavin was shooting around with his friend, St. Ignatius High teammate and future San Francisco mayor George Moscone, when Newell, who died Monday at the age of 93, walked in with Phil Woolpert.

"George said, 'I bet one of them is our new coach and one of them is the new USF Dons coach,'" Lavin recalled. "One looked very much like Henry Fonda (Woolpert) and the other looked like he could go toe-to-toe with Cary Grant."

Lavin, a retired Drake High coach, English teacher and administrator who now lives in Greenbrae, eventually played for Newell at USF. But Lavin got his first taste of Newell's coaching when he was a junior at S.I. Woolpert, Newell's longtime friend and former high school and college classmate, had to leave the team for a family emergency so Newell ran his practices for a week. He immediately had Lavin running the "reverse action" offense.

"I really admired him. He had kind of a rare presence that was not at all stagy," Lavin said. "He was effective by his total commitment to his basketball beliefs and principles."

Ultimately, Newell noticed the way Lavin played defense close to the floor and recruited him to come to USF to play after he spent two weeks at USC. Lavin, as a Dons freshman, practiced with the USF team that won the National Invitational Tournament in New York in 1949 then played for Newell for one season before the coach left for Michigan State.

"The big thing for me was he cared so much about and understood that game that you also loved," Lavin said. "I don't mean you'd jump off a bridge for him, but I found myself diving for loose balls with gusto."

What struck Lavin about Newell was how absorbed he was in the game. Once, Newell had the team manager kick a visitor out of his locker room not realizing it was a school priest. Another time, Newell was giving an eloquent pep talk in a hotel lobby and crushed the cigarette he had been smoking into the hotel rug. Then there was the story about the time Newell was sitting on the edge of his bed and yelled, "Don't waste your dribble!"

"Was he awake? Was he asleep? Who knows?" Lavin said. "He had a different level of intensity."